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Science in motion

NASA, Honeywell STEM program comes to Sterling Middle School

Interactive scientific demonstrations were part of the "FMA Live! Forces in Motion" program put on Monday, at Sterling Middle School. Here, teacher Deb Roberts gets a topic secret substance poured on her after students used a slingshot to hit a target with an apple, illustrating Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Sterling Middle School students had some fun with science Monday when a special interactive hip-hop program, "FMA Live! Forces in Motion," visited the school.

The science, technology, engineering and math program is sponsored by NASA and Honeywell, the company that did RE-1 Valley School District's recent energy efficiency and safety project. SMS is one of only three schools in Colorado that the program, which is funded by Honeywell Hometown Solutions, will visit; the other two schools are in Broomfield and Commerce City.

Gary Berngard, Honeywell program manager and manager of business development, told students that "this is our way for saying thanks to the school district, your teachers, your parents, for their support of math and science," adding that "math and science can really be fun."

Sterling Middle School teachers Brande Kirby, left, and Marybeth Skerjanec, take each other on in an extreme sumo wrestling contest during the "FMA Live! Forces in Motion" program. This demonstration illustrated Isaac Newton's law that force equals mass times acceleration. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

During the program performers taught students about Sir Isaac Newton's Universal Law of Gravity and Three Laws of Motion through dance, song and video, as well as interactive scientific demonstrations that involved student and teacher volunteers.

First, students learned about the concept of inertia and Newton's law that objects in motion stay in motion and objects at rest stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. To demonstrate this law, a couple of student volunteers competed to see who could go the highest using a spring board to jump onto a human Velcro wall.

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Up next students were given a lesson on the law that force equals mass times acceleration. What better way to illustrate this than to have two teachers battle it out in an extreme sumo wrestling contest. In the end Brande Kirby, a seventh grade social studies teacher, beat out Marybeth Skerjanec, an eighth grade language arts teacher.

In another experiment, a student volunteer demonstrated this law by trying to kick several different size soccer balls into a net, showing that as the mass of the soccer ball got bigger more force was needed to get it into the net.

A human Velcore wall was used to demonstrate inertia and Isaac Newton's law that objects in motion stay in motion and objects at rest stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force, (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

The third law students learned about was that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To illustrate this cast members gave a rocket demonstration, showing how air pressure could be used to accelerate water out of the rocket, causing it to launch.

Additionally, all three of Newton's Laws of Motion were put to use when volunteers used sling shots and apples to try hit a target that would cause a mystery substance to be dumped on Deb Roberts, sixth grade language arts teacher.

During the program students also learned about various STEM related jobs, particularly in the space field. It was noted that for every one astronaut in space there are 300 jobs on the ground. A video took students to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where they heard from an engineer who helped develop NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The engineer pointed out that NASA has other jobs besides engineering, such as finances, communication, even an artist in residence.

A rocket demonstration during the "FMA Live! Forces in Motion" program illustrate's Isaac Newton's law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

At the end of the program cast members reminded students that "the science that you learn today will take you far" and that "Newton's laws equals physics and physics equals engineering and engineering equals about everything cool that's ever been created by humankind."

"You don't have to be an astronaut or rocket scientist to set your future in motion. Remember science, technology, engineering and math, you'll be able to plot your path," another cast member told students.

Also, teachers were invited to visit the FMA Live! website, fmalive.com, which features a "Teachers' Lounge" that includes national science standards-based teaching resources and more.

Students seemed to enjoy the program.

A student volunteer tries to kick one of several different size soccer balls into a net, demonstrating Isaac Newton's law that force equals mass times acceleration. (Callie Jones / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

"It was a good way of learning; it was really fun," said eighth grader Raquel Marin.

Another eighth grader, Darrian Tait, agreed, adding "it made me want to think of going into something with science."

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